Installation view: Gus Van Sant: Recent Paintings, Hollywood Boulevard, Vito Schnabel Gallery, New York, 2019
© Gus Van Sant; Photo by Argenis Apolinario; Courtesy the artist and Vito Schnabel Gallery
“I like to see beauty in as many things as I can” – the My Own Private Idaho director opens up about his artistic practice and his first New York solo show, Gus Van Sant: Recent Paintings, Hollywood Boulevard
There is always something effortless about Gus Van Sant’s work. His films present an image of masculinity that was complex, emotional and sensitive, while his characters have been heroic (Sean Penn as gay rights activist Harvey Milk in Milk), at times flawed (Matt Dillon’s character Bob Hughes in Drugstore Cowboy), and often charismatic (River Phoenix as Mike in My Own Private Idaho).
Alongside filmmaking, Van Sant has experienced success as photographer, musician and now artist, staging his first solo show as a painter at Vito Schnabel in New York this month with an exhibition titled Gus Van Sant: Recent Paintings, Hollywood Boulevard. Like Jean Cocteau before him, the auteur is moving effortlessly between art- and filmmaking.